


Of Legends and Empires

by DreamingAngelWolf



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One-Sentence answers, One-Word Prompts, everyone really - Freeform, implied trauma, spoilers for the Nathema Conspiracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 21:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16795279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingAngelWolf/pseuds/DreamingAngelWolf
Summary: How do you measure a legacy? Is it the number of legends felled? The success of empires started? Or the longevity of the story they are part of?Perhaps it is simpler to focus on the specifics – on the individuals who matter, for example, and a handful of their experiences.





	1. One Legend Ends, Another Begins

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been playing SWTOR for a few years now, with a total of 18 characters to date, but it wasn't until recently that I actually started writing about them, and even more recently since I felt I could start posting said writing... It's been a really long time since I posted anything with OCs in, so I'm quite nervous about it, I guess! Not to mention, it's been a couple of years since my last upload here, too.
> 
> Although I don't go into much detail about each of my characters, you can find a bit more about them all through these links:
> 
> [Ilya Macabenna](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/ilyamacabenna)  
> [Tamilla Devisteous](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/tamilladevisteous)  
> [Jaloh Kimble](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/jalohkimble)  
> [Sazsoku Adineas](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/sazsoku)  
> [Ma'zar Adineas](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/mazar)  
> [Asehsa Kée](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/asehsakee)  
> [Zexius Quinn](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/zexiusquinn)  
> [Riccoe Marsh](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/riccoemarsh)  
> [Cayllah DeLuna](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/cayllahdeluna)  
> [Xathear Alanderis](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/xathearalanderis)  
> [Olleria Nandeni](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/ollerianandeni)  
> [Rudenayah Scott](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/rudenayahscott)  
> [Laurienna Carrolle](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/lauriennacarrolle)  
> [Arkissian Westeron](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/arkissianwesteron)  
> [Xekka Los](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/xekkalos)  
> [Issré](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/issre)  
> [Edi-Koh Farène](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/edikohfarene)  
> [Nathaiel Hayke](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com/mycharacters/nathaielhayke)
> 
> Not all of them are quite complete, but I'm working on it (slowly...)
> 
> *ahem* I'll let you get on with reading now. Link to the prompt list can be found at the end of the story. Hope you enjoy :-)

**Introduction**  
In the middle of the ruins that make up the allied base, Lord Beniko stands between the spies and reels off rank and affiliations – former, in both cases – and though the formality of the occasion is clear, Agent Theron Shan’s relaxed attitude has Riccoe ending his usual assessment, for only the second time, with the desire to know more.

 **Complicated**  
His reasons for leaving the SIS make sense, but Riccoe struggles to believe that doing so was as easy as Theron claims; and when the question is fired back at him, giving an answer of “That’s classified,” is easier than untangling the tripwires.

 **Making History**  
As Revan falls before them, Riccoe spares a second to wonder that for once he is so openly part of a newly-developing legend, and standing among such an unbelievable team of individuals.

 **Rivalry**  
Despite their parting words on Yavin IV, Riccoe finds he crosses paths with Theron in many a cantina across the galaxy, and talking with him as not-quite-ex-spies would: regaling tales of times they bested the other’s forces, subtly feeling out who is better and who holds more regrets beneath the prideful words.

 **Unbreakable**  
When Riccoe finishes recounting every sordid detail of how the Empire and the Star Cabal tried to bend him to their control, of the physical assaults and mental onslaughts he repeatedly let himself fall victim to, the last thing he expects is for Theron to cup his face and lean up from the mattress to press a kiss to his forehead, whispering a one-word response against his skin.

 **Obsession**  
One morning, days after their last meeting, it dawns on Riccoe as he reads over a summons from Darth Marr that Theron has started to take up a lot more of his thoughts than anyone else in recent times.


	2. An Empire Rises

**Eternity**  
When the dream-visage of the late Valkorian tells him he’s encased in carbonite, Riccoe thinks on the implications of that – should it be true – and doesn’t dwell on the idea of spending the rest of his waking moments trapped in the bruised shell of his psyche.

 **Gateway**  
He knows he should be listening to Issré as she recounts for him everything he’s missed between Valkorian’s death and arriving on Odessen, but a shuttle has arrived outside on the landing pad, its ramp lowering to reveal a face Riccoe hadn’t counted on seeing again so soon, and the sudden knowledge that only an open threshold now separates them sends an unfamiliar sensation through his chest.

 **Death**  
Riccoe had read the official Sith Intelligence report on the destruction of Ziost, but seeing the look in Theron’s eyes as he talks about it in hollow tones touches something within him that numbers and facts on a datapad never could.

 **Opportunities**  
They’re all so busy, starting this Alliance practically from scratch, and while Riccoe quietly relishes the feeling of working for a cause he has faith in for once, he doesn’t miss the fact that Theron finds him whenever he can for however long he has free to offer things: assistance with work, a cup of caf, even a joke that, in all likelihood, Riccoe won’t laugh at – because as important as building this Alliance is to Theron, re-building what he and Riccoe had seems to mean just as much.

 **33%**  
Issré gives them the odds of Theron and Commander Ilya actually taking down one of Emperor Arcann’s Sky Fortresses, to which Theron responds with a smirk and a comment about having survived worse (and Riccoe thinks that if he was a person in the habit of rolling his eyes at things people said, he might have done so enough times to constitute a planetary cycle thanks to Theron alone).

 **Dead Wrong**  
If Riccoe had been told that he would form a strong bond with the last winner of the renowned Great Hunt – an infamous Bounty Hunter with a reputation for cold efficiency and a colder shoulder, whose name some Manadalorians even spit on amidst mutterings of ‘going Sith’ – he would have dismissed it as highly improbable; and yet here he was, spending a rare moment of peace with Ma’zar in the base’s cantina, totally at ease with the scarred twi’lek.

 **Running Away**  
It’s plain to see that wherever Tamilla goes people from both factions have to fight the instinct to flee, but despite this Ilya makes it very clear that the former Wrath is as much a part of the Alliance as the next person, and Riccoe, for one, understands the value in keeping her near; still, he’s wary of her, and if his heartbeat kicks up a notch whenever he sees Theron interacting with her he’s quick to calm it with admiration for how well Theron puts aside any unease he feels (Riccoe feels uneasy himself when he acknowledges that he doesn’t have the urge to flee like everyone else).

 **Judgement**  
Although everyone treats him respectfully enough, there are some for whom time has not dulled the fierce scrutiny that lines the backs of their eyes when he talks to them, and Riccoe wonders if they’ll ever be able to see him as more than the Cipher he stopped being when Ilya (and Theron) held out a hand to him as an ally. 

**Seeking Solace**  
The _Phantom_ is blessedly quiet, an almost-home that holds as many good memories as it does bad, and it’s where Theron finds Riccoe hours after learning that one of his brothers is dead – and having assured him that he really isn’t grieving, for there was nothing truly lost, Riccoe apologises for not telling him where he was all this time (for not realising that he has someone to go to instead of a someplace, should he need).

 **Excuses**  
Their relationship isn’t a secret, so it makes no sense to Riccoe why Theron tries to provide a ‘reasonable explanation’ as to what the two of them were doing in the corridor after Rudenayah stumbles across them when, judging by the way the Bounty Hunter glowers at him, she couldn’t care less whether they were making out or experiencing a strange, electromagnetic malfunction in each of their implants.

 **Vengeance**  
There are many who, were they in Commander Ilya’s position, would want to seek retribution for what Valkorian did to them, yet Riccoe knows that’s the furthest thing from Ilya’s mind; even when he sees her in moments of reprieve, hands braced on a console and head bowed, a shadow passing over her face before she mutters something and straightens her spine, or the times he’s seen a spark of hope sputter when he tells her yet again that they’re still looking for the people she’s asked them to find – and unlike the Sith, who scoff and label her ‘a weak-willed Jedi pretender’, Riccoe’s regard for her as a leader and an individual grows every day.

 **Love**  
There is evidence of partnerships throughout the Alliance base, Riccoe finds: it’s in Sazsoku’s teasing when she asks her brother if he’s spoken to Vette lately, and the blush just visible on Ma’zar’s face whenever she brings it up; it’s in the heated glances shared between Lana and Arkissian no matter where they are; it’s the almost child-like way Rudenayah sticks to Torian’s side; it’s woven into the jibes Cayllah and Koth toss back and forth with barely-concealed smiles; it’s in the fond looks Ilya gives Jaloh when her son’s back is turned, and even in Tamilla’s prideful boasts while Zexius does his best to avoid his mother; it’s in the algorithms he makes to find Archiban Kimble, Malavai Quinn, Nadia Grell, Ashara Zavros, Risha Drayen, Corso Riggs and Vector Hyllus; and, most importantly, it’s in the way he relaxes when Theron comes to stand beside him, when they share a small touch, when Theron yawns into his caf and suggests they head to bed – and Riccoe thanks the stars that he’s come far enough to understand what it is that makes him say yes.

 **Tears**  
“I miss him,” Issré says, hastily wiping away a droplet that runs down the inside of her nose, and though Riccoe understands what she’s going through (and may have shared her sentiments once, though his feelings for Vector have long since faded) he finds himself unsure what to do besides squeeze her shoulder gently, and pretend that he doesn’t notice another fresh track shining on the pale blue curve of her cheekbone.

 **My Inspiration**  
On an operation with Sazsoku, Riccoe gets treated to a full run-down of how everyone in the Alliance has an aspect she admires, and even if he should probably have seen it coming his name being on the list is still unexpected; he’s not sure how to take it when she unreservedly tells him he’s one of the most focused, steadfast people she’s ever known, but refrains from telling her she shouldn’t look up to him for anything.

 **Never Again**  
The standoff only ends with the arrival of Xathear and Edi-Koh, and as soon as Tamilla relinquishes her Force hold on Riccoe he’s gone, out of the danger room, away from the deadly button he’d almost been forced to press, and lets his feet take him anywhere else, telling himself over and over again that his mind is still his own, that the vow he made years ago is still intact.

 **Online**  
The EMP only did minor damage, so it isn’t long before the medical droid declares his jaw supports fully functional once more, and Riccoe can finally close his mouth, no longer the defective child his parents tried their best to hide.

 **Failure**  
Riccoe feels responsible for SCORPIO’s deception – or rather, for not anticipating it sooner, and even as reassurances that he couldn’t have known or done anything to stop her fall from several people’s lips, he makes a silent promise not to let anything like this happen again.

 **Rebirth**  
Sana-Rae stops him as he passes the Force Enclave, staring deeply at him with her bright blue eyes, and tells him that one day he will have to make a choice that will define whether he truly sheds the shackles of his life under Imperial Intelligence, or if he collapses in on himself and all that has grown within him.

 **Breaking Away**  
Theron volunteers to operate the Gravestone’s omni-cannon, and Ilya calls Riccoe to the boarding party, leaving only enough time for a brief reminder of a promise made back on Odessen before Riccoe’s stepping into the shuttle; once they’re clear of the Gravestone and facing down the barrage of Arcann’s gunship, Riccoe clears his mind and focuses on the task at hand.

 **Forever and a day**  
As he works at disabling the ship’s shields, Riccoe finds himself thinking back on how much time has passed since his release from carbonite – at how much the Alliance has accomplished and grown, and how he has contributed to it and been gifted in return – and has to stop himself from considering that the end they plan to bring about to the Eternal Empire today might turn into a lasting peace.

 **Lost and Found**  
“I thought I’d –” Theron gasps when breathlessness forces him to pause in kissing Riccoe senseless, and Riccoe can hear the worry layered under the relief when he says, “You’ve disappeared on me too many times already; please… don’t do it again.”

 **Light**  
It’s strange to see Ilya celebrating and completely at ease (though she, of all people, deserves to); almost as strange as the idea that a man home grown into the Imperial Empire’s finest hidden blade could find cause, comrades and companionship amidst people from the other side of the war he’d known nearly his whole life – and want to stay.

 **Dark**  
He’s the first to hear news of an attack by the Eternal Fleet, and the moment he passes on that news to the Commander – it’s like watching the light of a star disappear for good.


	3. An Empire Falls

**Faith**  
Vaylin’s attacks are relentless, leaving the Alliance scrambling to catch up, never mind get one step ahead, and it’s clear to Riccoe that everyone is struggling to comprehend that the fight they thought had ended is beginning anew – but Theron… stars, if the Alliance could run on the strength of his conviction alone, Riccoe knows they wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.

 **Colours**  
Riccoe thinks Voss has always been an undeniably beautiful planet, with its near-constant autumnal landscapes and luscious skies; perhaps the fires that rage from building to building match such scenery, but on the Gravestone’s holofeed, it looks like nothing more than a world turning to ash.

 **Exploration**  
He takes his time in the quiet after the rush, eyes and fingers tracking over scars old and new, the rise and fall of toned muscles, Theron’s skin warm to the touch, and it doesn’t matter how many times Riccoe has done this when he can do it for as long as he wants as often as he desires.

 **Seeing Red**  
Theron’s jacket is a ridiculous, garish thing, and many people have said as much, yet at some point in time it became normal for Riccoe to wake up and find said garment lying somewhere nearby, and at some point after that, waking up with no sign of it anywhere was enough to encourage a tiny flicker of disappointment.

 **Shades of Grey**  
What Iokath lacks in colour it makes up for in vastness, danger, and violence; and the knowledge that this was the place that birthed SCORPIO, that created an entire fleet of planet-ruining warships, and that remained so unknown to anyone for centuries sits uneasily in the back of Riccoe’s mind (and where the hell is that awful flash of red?).

 **Forgotten**  
Riccoe remembers his birthday the same way he remembers Life Day: it’s a date, a point in history where something specific happened, and that’s all really; so it takes him aback when, a few days later, Theron presents him with a gift, a heartfelt apology, and the promise of the first real birthday celebration Riccoe has had since he was…

 **Dreamer**  
On good days, when they feel they’ve made tangible progress towards ending Vaylin’s reign of terror and strengthening their own forces further, Theron lies next to Riccoe in bed and talks about what he might like to do when the Alliance is no longer needed: start a farm on Alderaan, run a Private Eye business on Coruscant, become a speeder racer on Tattooine or Nar Shaddaa – but no matter how crazy the idea, or how little detail he puts into the thought, Riccoe notices that there is always a space for him.

 **Mist**  
Odessen is not the brightest planet in the galaxy; some mornings, Riccoe looks out of the hangar and struggles to see any of the six starships through the haze (and it reminds him, however briefly, of running towards the indistinct shape of the _Phantom_ , only to see the silhouettes of his team on the ground before it, the cold air laced with Valkorian’s sneers behind him).

 **Burning**  
He watches the stars when the weather allows, and does his best to see each one as a point of hope, a spark of new potential, not the desperate worlds whose distress calls he fails to receive now aflame and long past help.

 **Out of Time**  
Theron’s hands are insistent, pulling the two bodies closer together, his mouth hot against Riccoe’s, breaths gasping and needy, the faint rasp of stubble – Theron groans as his holocommunicator goes off, and Riccoe just smiles at his apology, unsurprised when he too is summoned back to work.

 **Knowing How**  
For all that Riccoe is one of the most capable spies in the history of the galaxy, with the skill to read and manipulate people and situations, there are times when he looks at Theron and realises he has no idea where to begin processing what he feels, much less what the best way to express those feelings is.

 **Fork in the road**  
Having remained on Dromund Kaas following Ilya’s visit to see Empress Acina, Tamilla has sent yet another message appealing to Zexius to join her where he belongs; but Riccoe watches the young Inquisitor as he listens to his mother’s words, and he knows that Zexius has already made his decision.

 **Start**  
Ma’zar and Vette are quite clearly unaware that Riccoe is just one table over from them, but he makes no move to interrupt as they finally acknowledge the feelings they have for one another, and quietly slips away to leave them to their new beginning.

 **Nature’s Fury**  
Occasionally, the forest surrounding the Alliance base becomes enveloped in a cacophony of sound – layer upon layer of howling and roaring, as if all the shadow stalkers and sleens and jurgorans have had enough; Asehsa says it’s partly how the Force maintains balance on the planet, and given that even he can feel a certain shift in the air as the creatures riot, Riccoe is in no position to doubt her.

 **At Peace**  
They lie on the top of the _Phantom_ ’s hull together, Theron idly linking his fingers through Riccoe’s, watching the stars.

 **Heart Song**  
When Sazsoku approaches Ma’zar and Vette at lunch to tell them that she can hear the force singing around them, Kaliyo promptly chokes on her food, and afterwards throws Riccoe ‘the stink-eye’ for not coming to her aid (until Riccoe says he assumed she would rather choke than hear such soppy sentiment again, to which Kaliyo concedes).

 **Reflection**  
“Strange to think how far we’ve come,” Issré says, and Riccoe can see her looking back over everything they’ve been through together in the set of her mouth and the faint crease in her brow; when she says, a moment later, “I doubt the people we were all those years ago would recognise us now,” he finds himself agreeing completely.

 **Perfection**  
After five rounds, the dummy target has just one, precise black mark in the centre of its forehead, the material burnt away slightly after each hit to leave a small indent; sighing, Riccoe relaxes his stance completely and starts to disassemble his rifle, pushing back the numbness that has spread throughout his body.

 **Everyday Magic**  
Indo’s plan is a go, and the Alliance thrives on putting the pieces together: Hylo co-ordinates supply runs with Jaloh and Olleria, while Ma’zar and Vette work on the ships; Blizz helps Koth with fine-tuning the Gravestone; Cayllah and Nathaiel discuss soldier morale and training with Bey’wan, just as Ilya goes over Force user training with Laurienna and Xathear; and under Lana’s guidance, Riccoe, Issré and Theron gather as much information about Vaylin’s guests as possible – and Riccoe wonders if this new wave of positivity can be felt through the Force, and if so, what it must feel like.

 **Umbrella**  
“When are you going to learn,” Riccoe says as Theron stumbles inside the _Phantom_ soaked to the bone (again), smiling sheepishly, “that your jacket is as effective at keeping the rain off your head as a bucket with holes in?”

 **Party**  
Infiltrating Vaylin’s event goes smoothly until it doesn’t, and while he knows that Theron is capable and has survived many extraordinary circumstances, he’s still mostly human, and now that there are two of Valkorian’s children on the scene, watching everything on holo from another planet is not what Riccoe would consider ‘preferable’.

 **Troubling Thoughts**  
Having Arcann around is more of a bother than Riccoe first anticipated – he understands why Ilya brought him back, but as much as he wants to trust the former Emperor, experience pipes up in the back of his mind that he shouldn’t trust this new ally, no matter what he says or does (he shouldn’t trust any of them, it tells him, and he thinks of Theron and tells it he can).

 **Stirring of the Wind**  
Nobody needs to have an affinity with the Force to know that something is on Odessen; it isn’t Ilya back from Nathema, and it isn’t a new ally – it’s big, it’s powerful, and Riccoe knows with spine-tingling clarity that they are not prepared for it.

 **Future**  
Ilya announces the Alliance’s intentions to the galaxy, and the calls come flooding in to the base; between fielding the data and calls and thinking about new algorithms to set up, Theron reaches across to take Riccoe’s hand, murmuring “We did it,” and as he smiles back Riccoe finally allows himself to wonder where they could go from here.

 **Health and Healing**  
Asehsa leads the Force healers as best she can, splitting them up into the teams Hylo and Bey’wan have organised to visit planets most in need, but when Theron manages to drop a storage box on his head she isn’t the one he goes to – instead, it’s Riccoe bent over him in the _Phantom_ ’s small medbay, carefully applying kolto, distantly remembering the time Vector had once done the very same thing.

 **Separation**  
It’s easy to forget how many of them are still waiting for news of loved ones and old friends; when Riccoe tells Olleria they’ve made contact with Corso Riggs, she embraces him so tightly he almost topples over, and when she thanks him with tears in her eyes, he wonders if he would ever react the same way if someone gave him similar news of Theron.

 **Everything For You**  
Once the Alliance feels like it’s settled into its new role, Riccoe lets an insistent Theron take him to Manaan for a few days of simply being together – and though he finds it hard to completely switch off (the concept of holidays and extended breaks still a foreign one), Riccoe knows it’s important when Theron tells him one evening, quiet and serious, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you happy… to keep you safe… you know that, right?”

 **Slow Down**  
Trying to have a conversation with Blizz when the jawa is in full-on, little-boss-of-scrap mode is nigh on impossible – even Riccoe has difficulty, and he’s been trained to fluency in most galactic dialects – but Rudenayah chatters back without pause, and Riccoe soon decides it’s easier to let her give him the gist of things later.

 **Heartfelt Apology**  
Ilya’s return from Iokath comes with the heavy news of a potential traitor, the death of Acina, the fury of Tamilla now directed at them, and an exhausted team; but what troubles Riccoe more than any of that is the way Theron breathes “I’m sorry,” into the crook of his neck as they fall asleep.

 **Challenged**  
If there is a traitor in the Alliance, chances are they are in the systems, so Lana directs Riccoe to dig them out – and Riccoe knows he comes close so often, catching glimpses of someone or something in the network that disappear before he can pin them down, and time and again he’s left with the sense that the traitor will make their next (potentially crippling) move soon.

**Exhaustion**  
Tiredness is evident in every line of Theron’s body, slumped against Riccoe as he finally stops working for the night, and Riccoe wraps an arm around his shoulders, threads fingers through his hair and places a gentle kiss to the top of his head, urging him softly to rest. 

**Accuracy**  
When Kaliyo admits she put money on him beating Gault, Riccoe knows she won’t take no for an answer; so he shoulders the rifle, he takes the shots, and as he walks away from a whooping Kaliyo and a dumbstruck Gault he does his damnedest to shake away the hollowness inside.

 **Irregular Orbit**  
Any sort of routine the Alliance once had has been thrown off-kilter since the revelation of a traitor, and it’s only become more obvious to Riccoe as the tense days pass: the cantina is never as full as it used to be, people are wary of each other, nobody stays in the same places for longer than necessary… and the more he sees it, the more on-edge Riccoe feels.

 **Cold Embrace**  
Jace Malcolm makes an appearance, for the sake of maintaining this new alliance, and Riccoe witnesses an awkward moment between father and son in which neither of them seem to know how long their hug should last (and he is suddenly reminded of how his own father rarely ever touched him).

 **Frost**  
Lokin’s rudimentary lab isn’t high up enough to really suffer the worst of the Alderaanian cold, but whilst his old companion finally clears out the last of his research, Riccoe spots a plant lightly covered in a glittering layer of thin ice, and makes a mental note to let Hylo know that travellers to Alderaan may need to pack warmer clothing.

 **A Moment in Time**  
“Take it slowly,” Riccoe says, halting Theron’s insistent drive as if snapping him out of a trance – but it works, and Riccoe guides him with slow kisses, lingering touches, almost lazy movements, dragging everything out for as long as possible (because Theron is tense, and quick fucks have never worked, no matter how desperate he is); afterwards, as they lie entwined together, Theron quietly thanks him, and the tension is gone until the next morning, when Lana announces they’re going to Umbara.

 **Dangerous Territory**  
The cantina is frozen, Riccoe included, all eyes on Rudenayah’s raised pistols, on Torian standing before her with arms outstretched, and Jaloh behind him, hands resting on his own guns as Risha glares at him from their table – because even she knows not to push Rudenayah’s buttons, and Jaloh’s not stupid; but as the stand-off continues, Riccoe wonders what Ilya would say if he told her that some people (her son included) were getting restless under her banner.

 **Boundaries**  
The lines between the Empire and the Republic may have been blurred with the formation of the Alliance, but Riccoe hears the divide from time to time as he travels throughout the base, harsh words spoken by soldiers put on edge at the thought of a traitor, each former side blaming the other, the distrust only fuelled by Empress Acina’s death; Riccoe hopes Ilya, Theron and Lana can bring the traitor to justice before the Alliance starts to fracture beyond repair.

 **Unsettling Revelations**  
Ilya reports in from Umbara, and as she reveals the traitor’s identity, nearly every pair of eyes fall on Riccoe, silent and still. 


	4. And Some Legends Never Cease

**Shattered**  
It isn’t the Commander who takes him to one side, not even the Jedi Master, Hero of Tython; no, this is Ilya Macabenna, a mother, a wife whose husband is stars know where, a concerned friend, and when she asks Riccoe how he’s doing he goes to tell her he’s fine, saying – (“Just because we’re spies doesn’t mean we can’t have feelings, and I really think it would be good for you if you started trying to recognise yours…”) – “Processing.”

 **Bitter Silence**  
It’s been days since one of Hylo’s contacts picked up the end of a cryptic transmission, since Ilya put a message out across the galaxy for Theron to hear, and there hasn’t been a single response or follow-up, and while Issré chips in with optimistic reasons why, Riccoe simply keeps his head down and focuses on any potential new lead.

 **The True You**  
Working with Issré and Raina again feels like slipping on an old glove, and Ilya’s added presence doesn’t interrupt their familiar teamwork at all, to the point that Riccoe worries briefly that he might be falling back into the long-shaken Cipher mind-set; but seeing Theron climb onto the shuttle in the distance, watching as he disappears without so much as a backward glance at them (at him), leaves Riccoe with no qualms about who or what he is when Valss stands in their way.

 **Pretence**  
People think he’s hiding what he’s feeling – that he’s dropped some Imperial, blank-slate shell over himself and buried himself in work – which is a fair assumption, given his former profession, but it’s simply not true; Theron is the traitor, he’s accepted that, and now it’s his job to find him (though he doesn’t ignore the small voice in the back of his head wondering if he’s so good as to fool even himself).

 **Patience**  
Snipers are trained to wait until they can make doing so an art, and there’s very little Riccoe won’t wait for: he watches Xathear finish the first stage of his training routine, movements slow and precise before his fingers graze the vibrostaff and his focus turns to Riccoe; he stands by while Oggurob rambles on about his latest bout of genius, the words going in without him needing to listen, finding the moment he can pitch in with his next question; he’s quiet as Laurienna finishes meditating with Asehsa, Edi-Koh and Zexius; he doesn’t say anything when Vette delays Ma’zar; he sits to let Cayllah and Nathaiel end their game of chess before going over military supplies with them; and he checks in, time after time, to see if that map has been pieced together yet, and when the answer is “No, sir,” he simply nods and asks for an update the next day.

 **Midnight**  
Nathaiel doesn’t ask what’s brought him to the starship landing zone at such a time, just nods his head in greeting, and strikes up a casual conversation about an over-eager soldier who joined them recently and couldn’t tell a blaster from a ration pack, and the ease of their talk is enough to help Riccoe begin to relax.

 **Shadows**  
It’s easy to forget that Zexius is one of the most powerful Sith in existence, as humble and mild-mannered as he is, but there are days when the corridors around his quarters are darker than the rest, totally empty, and so much as thinking of going that way sends dread into one’s heart; on those days, Riccoe puts a little more effort into finding Ashara Zavros.

 **Summer Haze**  
The late Voss evening is thick with heat, the sky darkening to a rich pink splashed with mauve clouds, the ruins of an old temple silhouetted at the top of a slope; up ahead, Sazsoku halts her taun-taun, closing her eyes to breathe in deeply, and Riccoe – waiting to give her the latest report – wonders what it must feel like to be able to draw peace from nature.

 **Memories**  
Vector hasn’t changed a bit, despite all he’s been through, and Riccoe is caught unawares as old feelings flare up when they shake hands; Issré leads him away to make up for lost time, happier than Riccoe’s ever seen her, and he thinks back briefly to the first time he caught sight of a familiar red jacket in the very same situation, a small ache in his chest as the reunited lovers share a long-awaited kiss.

 **Change in the Weather**  
For most people, when the sun starts to shine more often on Odessen and the air loses its cold dampness, it’s a sign that happier days are ahead, warmer days, a lift in the atmosphere that’s felt by everyone – but for Riccoe, it’s only a marker of how long has passed since the day Theron left.

 **Illogical**  
It doesn’t make sense – between them, Theron and Riccoe know hundreds of codes and encryptions, and could (and have) easily come up with hundreds more, so why… why has he only left one for Lana?

 **Only Human**  
There’s a reason he asks Teeseven to alert him when Theron’s taken out of the kolto tank, an explanation for why he finds himself next to Theron’s resting, battered form, with his strange new haircut and bland, colourless coat – but when he stirs, Riccoe doesn’t quite know why he’s torn between turning to leave and reaching out to touch him.

 **A Place to Belong**  
There are many people who object to Theron’s return to the Alliance – which is to be expected, given that many still refuse to trust Arcann – but Riccoe admires Ilya’s resolve when she tells them that the Eternal Alliance is for anyone and everyone who wishes to be a part of it.

 **Advantage**  
With the Order of Zildrog gone, Ilya calls everyone to council, saying she wants to make the most of this calm while it lasts – new supply plans are drawn up, a small recruitment drive is proposed, and research ideas are discussed; and when Ilya suggests having a party to let everyone kick back, Riccoe hopes this new peaceful stretch lasts long enough for the Alliance to shine as much as its Commander.

 **Breakfast**  
Theron asks for his help one morning, and Riccoe finds himself agreeing, joining him at the small table he’s covered in datapads, caf, and a bit of food – and although the topic of conversation is strictly work-related, it’s companionable, easy, and productive (one of the best mornings Riccoe has had in a long time).

 **Echoes**  
The more time he spends with Theron, the more frequently old habits and patterns show up in their interactions, and it makes Riccoe question things; “I’ll need time,” he told Theron all those weeks ago, and still does – but Theron’s hair has almost grown back where he changed it, and sometimes, when Riccoe wakes up, he believes for a moment he can see an awful jacket lying not too far from his bed…

 **Falling**  
The stray rocket demolishes the rock beneath Riccoe’s feet, throws him backwards into the cold Belsavis air, and he reaches for his grappling hook but it won’t be enough, he knows, he’s moving too fast, bound to hit rock sooner than he can launch it, he shouldn’t have put himself so high – but someone clasps his arm, jerking him to a wrenching stop, and he looks up into Theron’s face, sees relief, and something inside him feels very similar.

 **Picking up the Pieces**  
Their first kiss in nearly six months is nothing more than Riccoe leaning in for a quick, sure press of his lips to Theron’s, but the look of hesitant joy on his face when Riccoe pulls back reassures the former Cipher that he’s making the right choice.

 **Gunshot**  
The medbay lights are too bright, and there’s nowhere he can turn to avoid them, no way to move without sharply feeling the wound left by a pirate’s blaster; but in trying he finds the figure stretching in a chair next to the bed, smothering a yawn as he stands and bends at the waist, touches his forehead to Riccoe’s, murmuring with a raw voice, “Don’t suppose this makes us even now, does it?”

 **Possession**  
Riccoe has never felt more intrusive than when he catches Ilya sat by herself late one evening turning a plain ring between her thumb and index finger, gaze vacant; the fact that she doesn’t stir until he softly clears his throat makes Riccoe almost feel bad for disturbing her.

 **Twilight**  
The landing zone is quiet when he steps out of the _Phantom_ , the sky a husky purple colour, a dim strip of sunlight kissing farewell to the horizon in the West, but Riccoe only has eyes for the man striding down the walkway to welcome him home.

 **Nowhere and Nothing**  
People still come to Riccoe with questions about friends and loved ones – much fewer now that they’ve been doing this awhile, but more than Riccoe likes, and even though he’s long since run out of ways to tell them he hasn’t found anything or anyone, no trace of them anywhere, each time still feels like a personal failure.

 **Answers**  
Over time, Riccoe has learnt things that he’d initially wondered about his allies: Cayllah joined the Republic forces to follow in her father’s (her idol’s) footsteps, not because she hated the Empire; Rudenayah wasn’t born Mandalorian, but was raised by Rishi pirates; Edi-koh’s network of facial scars were inflicted deliberately as a child, by others who had never seen a miraluka before and tried to control their fear of him; Theron doesn’t smile like that towards anyone else.

 **Innocence**  
Sazsoku tends to the Jedi’s varactyl, her taun-taun and her many pets with such open happiness it’s strange for Riccoe to remember that she’s faced Vitiate in person, succumbed to his darkness fully and broken through the other side – even when Ma’zar says she was like this back on Ryloth, too; he’s tempted to ask her how she does it.

 **Simplicity**  
Riccoe feels the bed dip as Theron climbs in behind him, dropping a kiss to his shoulder and slipping an arm around his waist before they both settle.

 **Reality**  
It’s been a while since anyone talked about an ‘after the Alliance’, and yet here they are, the banner taken down, all their dreams of the past now clear paths for them to choose… but one shared glance with Theron, and Riccoe knows exactly what they’ll do next.

 **Acceptance**  
Satele smiles almost warmly at Riccoe and dips her head in the traditional Jedi greeting, but there’s something much more genuine at the back of her eyes; Jace’s eyes are hard at first, but after a small, defensive speech from Theron, the handshake he offers is firm and his words sincere as he says, “I’m glad Theron’s had someone there for him.”

 **Lesson**  
Ilya laughs as Varya squawks loudly, making Theron freeze in the saddle, and Riccoe smirks when Xathear teases him from his own varactyl, earning himself a glower from Theron as he curses Gault, Kaliyo and Rudenayah (Riccoe reminds him afterwards that he made the bet himself, and Theron adds Riccoe’s name to the list).

 **Enthusiasm**  
Having presented them with the intel, Riccoe stands back and watches, amused, as Sazsoku convinces everyone – Edi-Koh, Zexius, Asehsa, Laurienna, Ilya, even Xathear – to reach out to the potential Jedi colony, her excitement at the prospect of finding their old kin almost infectious.

 **Game**  
Riccoe beats Theron sixty-four to fifty-eight, and the former SIS agent can’t keep his jaw from dropping; “You seriously thought about having sex with me sixty-four – who are you, and what have you done with my embodiment-of-professionalism boyfriend?”

 **Friendship**  
There’s something significant in the fact that Riccoe can’t pinpoint the moment when he stopped considering this group of Force users, smugglers, soldiers, bounty hunters and spies allies, and understood that they had become something more.

 **Endings**  
They watch Ilya’s _Defender_ rise from the landing zone, Ossun-bound, and when Theron wonders aloud whether this means the Alliance has truly finished, Riccoe thinks back on what the galaxy has been through, and speculates that they’re merely becoming something else.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt list courtesy of Kathrine Roid on [Wordpress](https://kathrineroid.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/100-themes-challenge-writing-prompts/). 
> 
> I'm building up to showing a bit more about my characters on [my Tumblr](http://dreamingangelwolf.tumblr.com), so if you want to ask questions about them, by all means, do so here or there. :-)
> 
> And today I turned 25... what a thing to post, haha!


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